For some people, the flavors of fall are found in the swirls of a pumpkin spice latte.

Others welcome the season by making soup, baking bread, roasting squash or sipping pumpkin beer.

But first, let's enjoy fall's favorite fruit: the apple. We tend to take them for granted – after all, produce departments are always well-stocked, no matter the time of year – but the humble apple becomes a star when pick-your-own orchards open the gates (learn which varieties to take home in the video above), and restaurants, markets and sweet shops bring them into the kitchen.

In celebration of apple season, here are nine dishes to try. And enjoy them while you can: Peppermint-flavored everything will be here before we know it.

Apple cider slush and fritters, Delicious Orchards in Colts Neck

Over the past six decades, Delicious Orchards has transformed from a stand selling apples along a country road to a 60,000-square-foot market packed with produce and specialty foods. This time of year, these apple items are must-haves. Fritters, which are offered on weekends at the Fritter Shack, come topped with powdered sugar, caramel, or chocolate sauce (three for $4.99). Those with a real sweet tooth can choose all three toppings. The apple cider slush, which is available every day, is an icy take on the classic fall drink, paired with swirls of vanilla ice cream ($3.49 and $3.99).

Apple dumplings at Big Apple Bakery, Stafford

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An apple dumpling at Big Apple Bakery in the Manahawkin section of Stafford.(Photo: SARAH GRIESEMER/STAFF PHOTO)

Take an apple that is tart yet a little sweet, sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar, wrap it in puff pastry and bake it, then add a drizzle of icing and even more cinnamon and sugar. That is how owner Joe Urciuoli makes his apple dumplings, a fall specialty ($2.25). In the oven, the whole apple softens, the perfect match for the crisp pastry outside.

Apple cider doughnuts, Purple Glaze in Asbury Park

This Asbury Park doughnut shop is known for crafting tasty confections: a cream cheese-filled red velvet doughnut and a peanut butter cookie dough-topped doughnut, for example. But on Saturdays throughout the fall, owners Jacalyn and Wesley Sharpe are making apple cider doughnuts "done right, gently tossed in cinnamon and sugar" ($2.25 each).

Apple ice cream

Nicholas Creamery will begin serving caramel apple ice cream in late September or early October.(Photo: COURTESY OF JODIE EDWARDS)

Apples IN ice cream? Yes, please! Nicholas Creamery, which opened two locations in Monmouth County this summer, will scoop a caramel apple flavor made with Delicious Orchards apple cider and a cinnamon caramel swirl. The ice cream will be available in late September or early October. At Cookman Creamery in Asbury Park, owner Jimmy Johnson is making a vegan ice cream from brown rice syrup, cashew butter, agave and house-steeped apple cider, spiced with cinnamon, clove, allspice and nutmeg.

Apple pie at Wemrock Orchards, Freehold Township

That's what you get in a pie from this decades-old orchard and country store, which began offering pies baked with its own apples and peaches in the '70s. The same recipes are used today, and Wemrock offers nine-inch, hand-crimped traditional apple pie, apple crumb, French apple (with walnuts and raisins), cranberry apple, and a sugar-free apple pie sweetened with fruit juice (all $12.95). Wemrock also sells its pies frozen and unbaked, along with directions on how to prepare them.

Apple wine at Terhune Orchards, Princeton

First came the apples. Then, the wine.

This 200-acre Princeton farm, in operation since 1975, added a vineyard 13 years ago. Five years later, they bottled their first wine, Today, those grapes produce a dozen varieties, including one made with cider that comes from pressing Terhune-grown apples. Try a sip in the tasting room, pick up a bottle to take home in the farm store, or order online ($20.50).